Welcome! Come to Boston to meet Kat Cavicchio in my new e-book House of Cards available through Amazon on Kindle and supported devices!

Thursday, April 26, 2007

LOTTERY WINNER LOSES LIFEThis story/obituary just hit me. "Wayne Schenk, who fought unsuccessfully to get a $1,000,000 New York State Lottery prize paid in a lump sum so he could use it to treat his cancer, died here on Monday. He was 51."The $5 scratch off ticket paid $1,000,000 over twenty years. Mr. Schenk lobbied the New York State Lottery commission to pay out the entire sum to him so that he could pay for cancer treatments. He learned he had cancer 5 weeks before he won the lottery. The NY Lottery declined to change the rules of the ticket. Mr. Schenk received his first $50,000 installment before his death.1) Could he have sold his ticket annuity to one of those companies that advertises on the radio that makes lump sum pay outs for a fee? 2) Could the NY Lottery commission have changed the pay out rules for this case? 3) If you die, do your Lottery winnings CEASE or do they go to your survivors?

I can answer that. The problem is that he would only get half to 1/3 of the money if he sold the annuity. That is not counting the taxes. That would not be enough for the treatment -- I think he was hoping the state would just make an exception and give him the whole amount. His lottery winnings (as in the case of my father) continue after death. They go to the heirs.